4 memorable artifacts at Cantigny's First Division Museum
We recently asked the staff at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton to consider which artifacts on display in the museum's closed galleries they would most like to share with the public when the doors reopen after this socially distant time.
Megan Wozniak, the museum's collections manager, shared four favorites.
“Some of the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park's unique artifacts are hidden in plain sight to visitors,” she said. “Seemingly innocuous, these items from our main exhibit galleries are now available virtually through our Online Collections website at www.fdmuseum.org/collection.”
World War I:
Company D, 1st Engineers Guidon
This battle-worn flag flew during the Battle of Cantigny in May 1918 - the engagement in which our benefactor and park's namesake, Col. Robert R. McCormick, fought.
Capt. Horace Lilburn Smith Jr. commanded the specialized team of 150 engineers and recalled this mission as “the most grueling experience,” but “there is nothing that will make Captain Smith quite as proud as the knowledge that he led the First Company of Engineers 'over the top' in Cantigny.”
World War II: Lt. Col. Thomas E. Bennett's Hot Box
The First Division Command Post was stationed near Saint-Denis-le-Gast, France, on July 31, 1944. At around midnight, German Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88s dropped “grass cutter” bombs, sending fragments of shrapnel 360 degrees through the air.
One fragment embedded itself in then-Capt. Tom Bennett's emergency field cooker, aka “Hot Box.” Capt. Bennett recalled that the shrapnel also shattered an unopened bottle of British Gin, which he was saving. “The Germans were sometimes thoughtless like that,” he said.
Vietnam: Sgt. Ronald Campsey's M1 Helmet
During a reconnaissance-in-force operation Northwest of Di An, Vietnam, on May 4, 1968, an enemy bullet passed through the crown of this helmet. Sgt. Ronnie Campsey of Company D, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Division, colloquially known as the “Swamp Rats,” had adjusted the liner of the helmet just the day before in order to see better. He credits this small adjustment to saving his life.
War on Terror: Lt. Col. Terry J. Hawn's Smoking Pipe
While deployed in Iraq with the 48th Military History Detachment, then-Major Terry Hawn was known to smoke a pipe. When a rocket attack at Contingency Operating Base Basra on July 9, 2010, started a fire in the soldiers' housing unit, Hawn, ignoring the protocol of his unit to go in after engagements, attempted to rescue personnel from the burning building. Thus, his pipe, and Hawn himself, suffered damage during his heroism. For this act of valor, LTC Hawn received the Army Commendation, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart medals.
While these events are solidified in the First Infantry Division's history, the legacy of the Big Red One continues.
If you have a story or artifact you'd like to share, visit the museum's Artifact Donation website at www.fdmuseum.org/collection/artifact-donations/. The museum is at 1S151 Winfield Road.